[doganjo]

Try and avoid the enforcement notice if at all possible - they are a permanent notice on your land, not time limited - well in Scotland they are anyway

[Dookie]

I agree with both the last 2 comments. My experience was
1) phoned the council got advise confirming the type of application and how to do it. Then planner disagreed with some of what had been said and was a lot of fiddling about but got there in the end
2) next project I asked a local councellor, 2 architects amd paid 1 to do a submission. Planner siad they would turn it down on an assumption of different future use. I phoned them and clarified our intentions and it went through with a minor adjustment

What I learnt: architect will give you free advice on what sort of application you needed and chance of success.  They are usually but not always right. They will charge for doing the submission and should guide it through
The planning office are most helpful if they understand you are genuine and trying to stay in the law but it can be difficult getting to the right person.
In my last post I refered to 'comsultant' that was a bit loose as I meant professional such as architect. The professional specialists are pricey and only needed if you have got into deep trouble or want something the planners dont want you to have.

Hi PharNorth... I think I'm right in saying that my local Council no longer provides any kind of (free) advice.. I was told by the Planning Enforcement Officer to contact a planning consultant re the retrospective application... Great that you were able to get the right decision, though!

Weirdly, the enforcement officer told me that she actually liked my silo conversion and that it was 'quirky' but that I had no chance of getting approval for it... She was impressed that I had researched the history of the land over the past 100 years. My bulding takes up only a small area compared to the original steam powered pumping station that was in situ when first development of the land took place.

[Dookie]

If you haven't already applied be aware that they triple the normal fees if you apply retrospectively - as a penalty.  And all necessary details will need to be documented by authorised personel - plans, electrics, drainage, build etc etc

I think you're right that there is a penalty somewhere along the lines of tripling the fees... (I'm in Essex).
This was mentioned by the planning enforcement officer... I wasn't sure what she meant as I'm deaf and got a bit confused.
Whether this tripling of fees takes place if you try to make the retrospective application after the service of the enforcement notice, though...?

[mart6]

If its agricultral planning permission is not as expensive.
But if they are set against it your best option may be to appeal the enforcement notice
You must appeal it if they serve it and in majority of cases  you can do it on line.
You can apply for planning permission at this stage and let gov planning inspector decide not the council
Make a post on https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=9&sid=e3887fb3ab1199b1d359f7bc17c9ab78
There are a couple of planning consultants that help people out on there
One in perticular is great

[Dookie]

I think what I would do is write a short note preferably addressed to the person who first spoke to you simply saying you have no wish to be in breach of any regulations. You understand he adviced a retrospective planning application was needed and you are saving up for the necessary fees.

That merely acknowledges their advice and doesnt actually commit you to anything. It is hard to do these things without a consultant unless you can work your way through a lot of legal guidance stuff.

Excellent advice, but do you really need a planning consultant?  ]A good architect who knows their way around the planning and building standards systems[ should be all you need. If you are in Scoland it is all done on line, so they will know their way around the website too.  A site visit or two, drawings and statements, logged onto teh system, a number of email questions back, pay the money and it should be Ok.  I don't know what the sysetem is in the rest of the UK though.

Sounds so easy when you put it like that! Remember though... this is not a standard building... it's just a grain silo... it will be used to store garden tools, equipment .. a glorified potting shed... I have put electricity in there, but water and drainage, although in place are not connected.

[Dookie]

If its agricultral planning permission is not as expensive.
But if they are set against it your best option may be to appeal the enforcement notice
You must appeal it if they serve it and in majority of cases  you can do it on line.
You can apply for planning permission at this stage and let gov planning inspector decide not the council
Make a post on https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=9&sid=e3887fb3ab1199b1d359f7bc17c9ab78
There are a couple of planning consultants that help people out on there
One in perticular is great

Thanks, Mart... it was agricultural land over 100 years ago before the land was bought by a local water company which dug a deep well and built a pumping station to supply water to the local area.
The surrounding land still belongs to the same farm which sold it off.

My plot is now designated as PDL (previously developed land)... it has a redundant pumping station on it which was decommisioned some time ago, and has been granted B1 use... no problems there, but I added a grain silo for extra storage, without first getting permission. I thought it would be ok, but there is an article 4 direction on the land which has stripped away the permitted development rights, unfortunately... otherwise, I believe there would have been no need to make a planning application as redundant commercial buildings have automatic permission to convert into residential... is that correct?

My problem is that I have no funds to go to court and fight an enforcement notice...

[mart6]

Post on that site let me know if you do will tell you whos advice to follow.
How long has silo been there ?

[Dookie]

About 18 months... I'm not sure why they'd turn it down as my nearest neighbour has a car workshop and has two silos as storage... but there is no rhyme or reason... another landowner 2 fileds away and with an almost identical plot with two sheds on it has been granted PP to turn them into houses... All greenbelt land & he is in the coastal zone to boot!!


Just been looking on the site... looks very informative, but it won't allow me to search for stuff yet... I will check my email to see if they have confirmed my application to join. 

Edit: Apparently, the developer paid the planning dept a sum of money which they agreed would "mitigate the effects of the development on the environment", whatever that means...

[Dookie]

Post on that site let me know if you do will tell you whos advice to follow.
How long has silo been there ?

Thanks! There seems to be a problem, as they have not verified my registration yet... very slow here atm...

[mart6]

Post on that site let me know if you do will tell you whos advice to follow.
How long has silo been there ?

Thanks! There seems to be a problem, as they have not verified my registration yet... very slow here atm...

They will approve you give it time, good source for planning advise

[landroverroy]

There are several good property forums on facebook - among them - UK Property Traders and UK land and planning.

There are on there some very experienced and helpful people who will give you good advice. You should be able to distinguish these from those who merely state their opinion and can mislead you!
I would suggest you join one or both. You should then be accepted today and hopefully have some genuine advice by this evening.


But a word of advise - tell them the whole story (but concisely!) in the first instant, including your conversation with the planners, how much land you have, its history, and it's existing planning, the fact that PD has been withdrawn, whether you are living there and what your intentions are with the land. It saves taking up the first few days with questions and answers in order to establish the full facts, by which time someone really knowledgeable may have lost interest.

[Dookie]

Oh... thank you so much for that... I must admit I've never been on FB... so that will be something new!

I guess some people are afraid to say too much for fear of being spied on by others who may not have their best interests at heart... I don't know...

But yes, it would certainly save time if people are upfront.

My computer is old and ailing and I can't afford a new one I've been unsuccessful in getting onto the GardenLaw site... I got this message;

'The username you entered is already in use, please select an alternative.
    The entered email address is already in use.'

Next time I tried I got this;

The specified username is currently inactive. If you have problems activating your account, please contact a board administrator.

Not sure how I can contact a board admin if I can't access the site... Hmmm...

Well, anyway, despite being very ill with some virus, (a bit like my computer), I managed to write to the council to tell them that I'm now waiting to hear from a planning consultant, (true), and that I intended to comply fully with the request for the retrospective application, blah, blah. I hope that will stall them for a bit...

I went to the planning portal and looked up all the previous applications relating to my property, a quite recent one being an application to change the use of the existing building from Sui Generis to B1 use. This was initially refused by the council (suprise, surprise), but then went to appeal, where permission was granted as it was said that the site would just become overgrown scrub with a derelict building on it if it was not allowed to be used... I noticed that the supporting letter for this application was from a planning consultant that I had previously spoken to and was intending to use (funds permitting), and most of this letter is still relevant, and would, hopefully, help save some money.
Just waiting to hear back now... 

[Dookie]

Ahhh.... I was lost in the wilderness for a while there... have finally found my way home...

What I wanted to say was that I've posted on the Garden Law forum... only received one reply so far... that was from Mr. Sheen.... Can't say they were very encouraging!

I think what I need to do now is to write to the planning Enforcement officer to see if she is able to delay the enforcement notice until my planning consultant returns to work in March... otherwise I will just have to make a quick planning application & provide a supporting letter if & when it goes to appeal...

Not very well atm... GP said to avoid stress!

[pharnorth]

Fingers crossed, sounds like a sensible plan

[Dookie]

Yes... I'll do that then...although they don't often reply when I write so it's a bit hit & miss...and they have never put anything in writing to me, even though there have been two site visits...

One thing that I've just found out about and which is quite worrying, is that the LPA can refuse to consider an application after the enforcement notice is served... See here- I don't understand the last sentence... any idea, please?

On 6 April 2012, the Localism Act 2011 made changes to planning enforcement to tackle abuse of retrospective planning applications:

    Planning authorities can decline to determine retrospective applications after an enforcement notice has been issued.
    Limits have been introduced to the right of appeal against an enforcement notice after a retrospective planning application has been submitted, but before the time for making a decision has expired.
    Limiting appeals on technical grounds resulting in the granting of planning consent.